Knot retainer



Sept. 8, 1964 A. PULITZEYR KNOT RETAINER Filed NOV. 19, 1962 5 7 5 J INVENTOR SIDNEY Pl/L/TZER Jaw/0W ff/MAM! ATTORNEPYS United States Patent 3,147,492 KNOT RETAINER Sidney A. Pulitzer, New Orleans, La., assiguor to Wernbley, Inc., New Orleans, La., a corporation of Louisiana Filed Nov. 19, 1962, Ser. No. 238,383 4 Claims. (Cl. 2153) This invention relates to neckties and more particularly to an improved knot retainer and clip for pre-tied four-inhand neckties.

Pre-tied neckties are becoming increasingly popular for a variety of reasons among which are their ease and speed of attachment and the elimination of the tie band about the wearers neck, which can be particularly uncomfortable in hot weather. The knot retainers presently in use are, in the majority, constructed of planar sheet material having two flat rearwardly extending divergent wing parts which are integrally joined together by a rearwardly curved center part. Because such retainers have no body except that afforded by the curved part, the knot is flat and unnatural in appearance and does not project outwardly from the wearers neck in the same manner as a genuine knot composed of several layers of tie material.

The object of the present invention is to overcome the disadvantages of present knot retainers for pre-tied fourin-hand neckties by so constructing the retainer that an additional forwardly and downwardly projecting part is provided which serves not only to drape the tie ends emerging from the knot part in a natural appearing manner, but also serves to give much greater natural body or fullness to the knot than is possible with the substantially fiat or planar retainers presently in use.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the retainer of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the retainer of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the retainer;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view showing a necktie and retainer of the present invention in position on the neck band of the shirt of a wearer;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged vertical cross sectional view taken substantially on the line 5-5 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but showing a second embodiment of the invention.

With reference to the drawings, the numeral 10 indicates the main body part of the retainer embodying the present invention and comprises a unitary member of substantially planar flexible sheet material, for example, nylon, having a pair of divergent, upwardly and rearwardly extending wing parts 12, 14 adapted to be received beneath the down-turned parts of a wearers collar. The wing parts are interconnected by an integral rearwardly curved central part 16 whose upper edge 18, when viewed from the front as in FIG. 1, is horizontal and whose lower edge is provided with a semi-circular notch 20 adapted to accommodate the upper button 22 of a shirt when the retainer is in its position of use as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Extending rearwardly and downwardly from the upper edge 18 of the central part 16 is a downwardly open, right-angled hook 23 which is adapted to be received over the upper edge of a shirt band 24 as can be seen in FIG. 5.

In accordance with the invention, improved means for draping the tie and increasing the natural body and fullness of the knot is afforded by the provision of a forwardly extending member fixed to the front of the body member 10 and generally indicated in the drawings by the numeral 26. Extension 26 may be formed of a rearwardly bent sheet of the same material as the main part 10 and includes rearwardly extending side parts 28, 30 whose ends are integrally joined to the wing parts 12, 14 of the body part 10 approximately where the wing parts merge into the curved central part 16 of body 10. The member 26 is generally forwardly and downwardly sloping with a lower edge 32 extending forwardly beyond the upper edge 34 so as to provide a front edge part 36, when viewed from the side as in FIG. 2, which slopes at an acute angle with respect to the vertical front edge 38 of the main body member 10.

With the foregoing arrangement it will be apparent from an inspection of FIG. 5 that when the two end parts 4%), 42 of a tie of conventional but shortened (because of any need for a neck band part) construction are looped about the wing parts of the retainer in the usual manner of pre-tied four-in-hand neckties to form the simulated knot 44 (see FIG. 5), the extension member 26 causes the knot part to protrude outwardly away from the vertical front edge 38 of the body part 10. At the same time, the rearwardly extending side parts 28, 30 of the extension 26 provide inwardly fairing supports for the sides of the knot material resulting in the knot part 44 having an appearance of fullness and of greater naturalness than can be obtained with the straight or planar retainers now commonly in use. In addition to providing natural fullness to the knot, the extension 26, particularly the lower, foremost end or point 46 thereof, also serves in draping the upper parts of the tie ends where they emerge from beneath the knot material; that is to say, the forward extension 26 causes the upper emergent parts of the tie ends as at 48, to be positioned in close adjacency with the lower edge of the knot material thus eliminating the necessity of bringing the sides of the lower edge of the knot material around behind the tie ends where they are joined tightly together in an unnatural manner by stitching, principally for the purpose of removing the gap that normally would exist between the upper end of the front tie part where it emerges from the knot and the lower end of the knot material. With the arrangement of the present invention, the described unnatural pulling and binding together of the side parts of the knot material for the purpose of removing a gap is entirely unnecessary inasmuch as no gap can exist at 48 because of the action of extension 26.

In addition to the foregoing, the forward extension causes the simulated knot and adjacent, emergent parts of the tie ends to protrude away from the neck of the wearer in a manner more nearly duplicating the action of a genuine knot composed of a plurality of material layer.

By mounting the hooked member 23 so that it extends rearwardly from the upper edge 18 of the central part 16 of the main body member 10, as opposed to mounting a somewhat S-shaped hook extending rearwardly from the lower edge of the retainer as is the practice in present retainers, and by providing the recess 26 in the lower edge of the center part 16 of the body 19 to accommodate the shirt button of the wearer, it will be apparent that the spacing between the downturned part of the hook and the rear of the body part It can be substantially less than the corresponding spacing of downturned parts of the S-shaped hooks attached to the bottom edge of a retainer which does not have a bottom recess. Thus, the retainer of the present invention is adapted to hug closely the shirt band of the wearer so that the upper horizontal edge 50 of the knot part is in close engagement with the confronting shirt material in substantial duplication of a genuine knot. This effect is further aided by the forwardly projecting downwardly sloping extension 26, as should be apparent in FIG. 5, which also causes the upper edge 50 of the knot part to extend well above the upper edges 52 of the loops around the wing parts so that these are definitely hidden from the eye of the observer. With retainers now in use, somewhat more-than-casual scrutiny by an observer will usually reveal a part of the loop extending slightly above the knot part so that there can be no doubt that the wearer is using a tie of the pre-tied variety.

FIG. 6 is a substantially identical to the embodiment of the invention shownand described in FIGS. 1 through 5 and identical parts of both embodiments receive the same reference characters. The embodiment of FIG. 6 differs from the first embodiment in that the hook member 23 is connected to the rear of the central part 16 intermediate the upper and lower edges thereof by a stepped part 52 affording a recess 54 behind the central part 16 and in front of the hook member 23. This recess permits the inner edges of the tie material where it loops about the wing parts 12, 14- to nest into the recess so that the adjacent inner edges of the loops may be positioned more closely together resulting in an apparent knot structure which is not as wide as is the case where the hook part is'connected to the top edge of the center part 16 as in FIG. 5. In the latter case, the hook acts to spread the adjacent inner edges of theloops farther apart resulting in a wider knot which, depending upon taste or shirt collar style, may be preferred.

If desired, the wing parts 12, 14 of the retainer of the invention may be encased in sleeves of tie material as indicated at 56 in FIG. 5. This arrangement aids as a further disguise of the retainer, particularly where the tie is to be used with a shirt having a particularly loose collar.

The use of the invention should be apparent from the foregoing description. It is understood that the retainer of the present invention is susceptible to changes and modifications without, however, departing from the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A necktie retainer to receive and support a pre-tied four-in-hand necktie for attachment to the neckband of a shirt comprising a main body part of planar sheet material having a rearwardly curved center part and a pair of upwardly and rearwardly extending wing parts integrally connected with said center part, a downwardly open hook extending rearwardly from said center part, and a forwardly and downwardly sloping extension fixed to and overlying the front of said main body part and having a forwardly and downwardly sloping front edge part forming an acute angle with and spaced forwardly away from the front edge part of the rearwardly curved center part, said extension having a pair of divergent rearwardly extending side parts integrally joined with said main body member on opposite sides of the curved center part thereof, said forwardly extending part being adapted to receive thereover' the end parts of a necktie and also the laterally extending simulating knot material so as to provide fullness to the simulated knot and natural drape to the tie in simulation of a conventionally tied necktie.

2. A necktie retainer to receive and support a pre-tied four-in-hand necktie for attachment to the neckband 'of a shirt comprising a main body part of planar sheet material having a rearwardly curved center part provided with a horizontal upper edge and an arcuate recess in its lower edge, a pair of upwardly and rearwardly extending wing parts integrally connected with said center part, a downwardly open hook extending rearwardly from said center part, and a forwardly and downwardly sloping extension fixed to the front of said main body part and having a forwardly and downwardly sloping edge part forming an acute angle with the front edge part of the rearwardly curved center part, said extension having a pair of divergent rearwardly extending side parts integrally joined with said main body member on opposite sides of the curved center part thereof, said forwardly extending part being adapted to receive thereover the end parts of a necktie and also the laterally extending simulating knot material so as to provide fullness to said knot material and natural drape to the tie in simulation of a conventionally tied necktie.

3. The necktie retainer of claim 2 wherein said downwardly open hook extends rearwardly from the straight upper edge of said center part.

4. The necktie retainer of claim 2 including a rearwardly extending stepped part connected at one end to said downwardly open hook and connected at its other end to the rear of said center part intermediate the upper and lower edges thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,265,721 Audilfred May 14, 1918 FOREIGN PATENTS 218,675 Australia Oct. 28, 1957 637,489 Canada Feb. 27, 1962 1,064,894 Germany Sept. 10, 1959 514,084 Great Britain Oct. 30, 1939 292,058 Switzerland July 31, 1953 

1. A NECKTIE RETAINER TO RECEIVE AND SUPPORT A PRE-TIED FOUR-IN-HAND NECKTIE FOR ATTACHMENT TO THE NECKBAND OF A SHIRT COMPRISING A MAIN BODY PART OF PLANAR SHEET MATERIAL HAVING A REARWARDLY CURVED CENTER PART AND A PAIR OF UPWARDLY AND REARWARDLY EXTENDING WING PARTS INTEGRALLY CONNECTED WITH SAID CENTER PART, A DOWNWARDLY OPEN HOOK EXTENDING REARWARDLY FROM SAID CENTER PART, AND A FORWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY SLOPING EXTENSION FIXED TO AND OVERLYING THE FRONT OF SAID MAIN BODY PART AND HAVING A FORWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY SLOPING FRONT EDGE PART FORMING AN ACUTE ANGLE WITH AND SPACED FORWARDLY AWAY FROM THE FRONT EDGE PART OF THE REARWARDLY CURVED CENTER PART, SAID EXTENSION HAVING A PAIR OF DIVERGENT REARWARDLY EXTENDING SIDE PARTS INTEGRALLY JOINED WITH SAID MAIN BODY MEMBER ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE CURVED CENTER PART THEREOF, SAID FORWARDLY EXTENDING PART BEING ADAPTED TO RECEIVE THEREOVER THE END PARTS OF A NECKTIE AND ALSO THE LATERALLY EXTENDING SIMULATING KNOT MATERIAL SO AS TO PROVIDE FULLNESS TO THE SIMULATED KNOT AND NATURAL DRAPE TO THE TIE IN SIMULATION OF A CONVENTINALLY TIED NECKTIE. 